2.23.2009

1. my dear, sweet friend, lauren hester, finds out tomorrow if she is having a boy or a girl. so exciting.

2. i have an art show on tuesday. granted it is at st. catherine's retirement village. but a show is a show. right?

3. i am going to see baby harry on wednesday. some sweet church friends had a baby boy in january, and after seeing him this morning in church i decided i had to hang out with him longer. he is precious. mary ella is his big sister.

4. i am taking an art class with my mom on wednesdays. it is so much fun and i'm loving taking the class with my mom.

5. one of my best friends from high school, jenny, (jennifer o'neal emerson) is having her second child on thursday. she lives in hernando, so i won't be there for the birth. but still exciting.

(funny how so far the majority of my exciting things involve babies)

6. this is super exciting. two of my best friends, hallie and newman, are coming in town thursday! enough said on that one!

7. the three of us will get to hang out with helen's new baby, taylor marshall.

8. the three of us will drive to oxford for the weekend where we will get to hang out with another best friend (ashley), see more friends and see another friend get married.

9. i will get to go to church with them in oxford on sunday.

10. the end of the week just means the start of another....which means that spring is getting closer!

2.10.2009

i just realized that i never updated y'all on my fantasy football team.

i would like to announce that i (drum roll please)

...was not the winner!

you see, it's a little crazy b/c in some aspects i was the winner. i didn't win overall though.i did go undefeated for a crazy length of time. about 10 games or so.i lost in the single elimination play-offs.

2.07.2009

i lost a dear, sweet friend in college...laura treppendahl. after RUF that night she came to my house to play games and sing kareoke. when she left i was the last person to get a hug from her. if i had known that would be the last hug i ever got from her...it is exactly how i would have wanted it to be. that was one of the beautiful things about laura. when she hugged you, she meant it. when she said she loved you, she meant it. nothing ever became monotonous with her. she did everything with such emotion...because she knew that she wasn't promised tomorrow. at dinner that night laura talked about singing at RUF. she said that singing Holy, Holy, Holy was like an appetizer to heaven. we would usually sing it as the last song and they wouldn't play instruments on the last verse. she described it perfectly!

we used to meet every thursday afternoon for coffee on the balcony at square books. she and i would sit and talk for hours about how we always overcommit to things...obviously i haven't changed much in that area! laura introduced me to palmer's cocoa butter chapstick...the greatest chapstick, hands down.

i could go on and on about laura, but a friend of mine wrote something about her that is more beautiful than anything i could dream of writing.

this was written by johnathan keenan. he was roommates with laura's boyfriend, dallis.

if you don't read anything else on my blog....read this...

The name LauraTreppendahl may not be a word in your ear that soundsfamiliar. This person is simply another name whose identity isunknown, a mystery, someone that you will forget once you have readthis. But to others, when this particular name is whispered,ironically, mystery is still in the air. The identity is known, butwithout words that seem fitting.

She is the person in your life that smiles simply because she knowsno other expression. She laughs because she finds that is soothes thesoul and that it makes her smile even more. Her presence in a roombrings great joy, yet comfort for the ones who do not have the socialgraces as others. She always exudes happiness when she sees you. Itseems almost fake, but when you begin to see how she works, youunderstand that she truly is ecstatic to simply say "hello." Whenspeaking with her, at that moment in time, you are most important. Shepossessed the wonderful gift of listening. But more importantly, shewas compassionate when listening. If you were sad, she was sad; if youwere hurting, she probably felt your pain; when you were excited, sheelevated even more excitement. Her humbleness is perplexing, herwillingness to serve others is convicting, and her ability to loveothers is gripping. The name LauraTreppendahl is now a familiar toneto some of you because you can think of that person in your life whoexemplifies these wonderful gifts.

All these characteristics sum up a person who was in love with JesusChrist. The profundity of Christianity baffled her. She understoodgrace, which happens to be the most perplexing concept of the entireBible. How did she grasp the idea that God sent His Son to the crossto die a horrible lonely death for her? Well, it was by faith. Deepdown inside her tiny little frame, her heart beat to the sound ofGod's drum. From before the beginning of time she was one of God'schildren.

Dallis Ketchum, another name that is foreign, except maybe the first,which is a pretty familiar city, but other than that no identity iscaptured from the sound of the name. He is my roommate, truly one ofmy closest companions. We know each other well, very well. He is inlove, enamored, smitten by LauraTreppendahl. I do not know thefeeling he possesses for her, because I have never been in love, butfrom what I can grasp, I want what he has. It is not the cheesyromantic love that the Entertainment industry conjures up. It is thegospel-centered love for another person that strangely exist betweentwo Christians whose first love is Christ. It is the sacrificial loveChrist so perfectly displayed amongst His people. It is the ability tosee the other person the way Christ sees them, perfectly radiant,possessing something they were created for, Holiness. It is not theromantic feeling (which changes as easily as the Seasons do), but theconcept of Love. The concept that says, you know what, I am going tolove you for your sake, not mine. I am going to serve you not becauseyou deserve it, but because you don't deserve it. I am going to bepatient with you because God is patient. I am going to humble myselfbecause Christ humbled Himself. I don't understand love, but I writelike I do because I have witnessed a unique relationship that taughtme more than I asked for.

Dallis Ketchum wanted to spend the rest of his life waking up toLauraTreppendahl. God said no, I have other plans for you.

On February 7th, LauraTreppendahl was killed. She was "called home"as us Christians like to say. Why she died, I have no idea? Why didGod take her away from Dallis, I don't have the slightest clue? Themystery of God's sovereign plan is just that, a mystery. But I mustand will continue to find comfort in the doctrine of a sovereign Godwho by His own divine Will rules the universe as He pleases. You say"comfort?" How can this be comfort when a drunk driver killed my bestfriend's second love? It is comfort because I believe if God did notexist as a sovereign ruler over all then that means no one rules,which means that this world would be in major chaos. It brings peaceto know that I am not in control. But this does not nullify thefeelings I have and don't have for the divine tragedy that happened.My friend lost his Love. I do not know what pain exist in his heart. Ido not understand the agony he goes through day in and day out, thesilent yet awful sound of sleepless nights that brings more tears andmore heartache. I try, but nothing happens. I see him hurting, I hearhim crying, yet, I have no feeling that matches his. Guilt is the onlypain I feel. I feel that I grieve without pain which makes me believethat I am not actually grieving, because I do not understand what helost and what Christ gained. I miss her tremendously, her beautifulsmile, but my grief for her is slowly turning into a quiet littlepeace, but it has turned full force towards my beloved roommate whosepain is foreign and whom I have no remedy for.

It has been a surreal moment in my life, these past couple of weeks,but time continues to pass and the days are beginning to get back tonormal, but one thing that remains the same, LauraTreppendahl is nothere. She is in perfect condition, Holy and blameless, illuminatingthe radiance of Christ and if we happened to see her now, we might betempted to worship her because she reflects the image she was createdfor, Christ. May you find comfort in the friends you have like LauraTreppendahl, but more importantly, may you find rest in the Name ofJesus Christ, by whom we long to be with. I leave you with this quotefrom C.S. Lewis on Heaven: "Your soul has a curious shape because itis a hollow made to fit a particular swelling in the infinite contoursof the divine substance, or a key to unlock one of the doors in thehouse with many mansions. For it is not humanity in the abstract thatis to be saved, but you-you, the individual reader...Blessed andfortunate creature, your eyes shall behold Him and not another's. Allthat you are, sins apart, is destined, if you will let God have Hisgood way, to utter satisfaction...Your place in Heaven will seem to bemade for you and you alone, because you were made for it."

2.05.2009

there is a popular thing going around facebook these days. people tag other people and they list 25 random things about themselves.i did this on facebook, but after i posted it i thought my list was pretty lame. sure there were some good ones on there, but i decided to do another one here.

so here are 25 random things about me:

1. i once locked the keys in the car with the car running

2. i like to wear flowers in my hair. any occasion.

3. speaking of hair. i've never had mine past my shoulders. the doctor said it gave me headaches when i was little because there was so much of it.

4. i thought my dolls came to life when i was little. now that you know that you can understand why i did not take it well when my brothers hung them from a tree in a front yard and put a spotlight on them....as a halloween decoration.

5. i hit my brother on the back with a hammer once. i'm sorry thom.6. my brother "accidently" followed through too much with a swing and hit me in the face with a wiffel ball bat stuffed with newspaper and wrapped with duck tape. it broke my sinuses.

7. just counting my parents, my siblings, their kids and myself....there are 18 people in my family.8. i sat right behind heath ledger on a flight once. i didn't realize it was him til we were getting off the plane. he is a fast walker, but i kept up with him and we were the only two people in the baggage claim. we were able to talk for a while. i'm glad that i somewhat stalked him to talk to him.

11. my mom told me she would pay me 5 cents for every magnolia leaf i picked up in the front yard. i wasn't smart enough to think that if i filled one bag up with 200 leaves, that the next bag would probably be that. if i miscounted i would pour them out and start over. i picked up 2800 leaves to make $140. i spent all the money on buying more american girl accessories.

12. i've always wished that i could go on let's make a deal where they go through the audience and ask them to pull out random things from their purse. i would rock that game!

13. in college a group of us arranged our schedules around "the price is right" and we would meet in the union to watch it together.

14. people have always felt the need to wear costumes to my house. i'm not sure why, but i love it.

15. there are certain songs that chi o has ruined for me. material girl, everlasting love, abc, one way or another, carolina in my mind & proud mary to name a few. i can't hear them without hearing the chi o version for rush.

16. i've always wanted someone to follow me around with a boombox and play a soundtrack for my life.....except i wouldn't want to hear scary music.

17. the first time i went to the zoo was when i was 24.

18. i once ate a whole bottle of flintstone vitamins. i thought they were supposed to be good for me!

19. clint babysat us once when he was in college. as my parets were driving out of the driveway he told us to write down 3 things we've always wanted to do that our mom never let us do. drinking a second glass of milk before i finished my veggies was on my list.

20. my sister and i can have a whole conversation without saying a word.

21. i believed there were purple polka-dotted cows in hawaii until an embarassing age...like 12 or something. clint would be the mastermind behind that one.

22. in the past i have been known to not wear sunscreen. ever. even when i would live at the beach. i do now.

23. i drove 8 hours to the beach. layed out for 7 hours. drove 8 hours back that night. total trip time: 23 hours. best trip ever!

24. i'm not a fan when people don't use possessive pronouns. for some reason it always happens when people are talking about their parents....they'll say, "dad is going to the doctor." .....but he's not my dad.

25. i have had a full leg cast....twice. from thigh to ankle...and it wasn't the kind you can remove.